Parenteral Nutrition — Is It Helpful?

The belief that hospitalized patients will benefit from parenteral nutritional support is based on a body of indirect evidence. Malnutrition is common among hospitalized patients, particularly those whose ability to digest and absorb oral or enterally delivered nutrition is interrupted by surgery. There is a consistent relation between poor nutritional status and the risk of complications, such as poor wound healing and infection. Moreover, nutritional support can prevent malnutrition or improve the nutritional status of those who are malnourished. It therefore seems logical to assume that parenteral nutritional support reduces the risk of complications associated with malnutrition. As a result, . . .